When asked Sunday night if there was any concern Kaepernick will be able to practice Wednesday and Thursday against the Denver Broncos, 49ers coach Chip Kelly answered, “That’s not what I’ve been told”. The tight end noted that everyone wished Kaepernick could have played in the game. “It wouldn’t have been fair to put him in and then judge him on that in the competition”. He wants his team to get back in their winning form and hopes that Kaepernick would be healthy for him to make his assessment on him as well. He hasn’t done much throwing since last season and the more time he doesn’t throw is less time for him to truly compete against Gabbert.
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The potential trade to the Broncos cratered because Kaepernick refused to slash his salary and the 49ers declined to pay a large chunk of it in order to facilitate the deal.
Kaepernick’s current condition may be the result of a lack of proper rehab following his recent shoulder surgery, according to Perekh.
It’s all blurry with Kaepernick and 49ers management (Kelly at this point is probably just a bemused bystander), and it has been like this for months.
Jeff Driskel picked up 61 yards on five runs, Blaine Gabbert 18 on three and Lewis 10 on four, an 89-yard total that was better than 11 teams’ total rushing production on Week 1 of exhibition play.
In his first game with the Texans since being signed to a four-year, $72 million contract that included $37 million guaranteed, Osweiler attempted just seven passes with four completions for 27 yards and a 65.8 passer rating with no touchdowns or interceptions. I’m not going to get into what we did call, what we didn’t call.
“I don’t look at it as a leg up”, Kelly said via the San Jose Mercury News.
“So if Colin gets in there and does a great job when he’s in, I’m not going to say, ‘Well, he didn’t get as many snaps as Blaine'”. But questions persist about his consistency, and there were some alarming accuracy issues early in the game on Sunday.
But if the 49ers are going to pick up first downs and score TDs, they’ll do it with Carlos Hyde and others running the ball and only occasional big-pass plays. On paper, Kaepernick has the talent to overtake Gabbert as the starter, but he has to get healthy and get integrated in Kelly’s system first. Despite the aforementioned reports, we currently project Kaepernick to win the starting job, at least for now.
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But that’s a thought for a later date, when Gabbert officially is installed as the 49ers’ starting QB.
